The Bruins might have opted to pass on sweepstakes for top-flight free agents like Blake Coleman on Wednesday, but Boston reportedly did manage to add to its forward corps with a slew of depth signings in Nick Foligno, Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek.
Foligno stands as the latest signing on what has been a busy day for Boston — with TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reporting that the B’s inked the veteran forward to a two-year contract.
Per TSN's Pierre LeBrun, the Bruins signed Haula to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $2.375 million. Just minutes after that news broke, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Boston also added Nosek on a two-year deal — with a $1.75 million annual cap hit.
Foligno, 33, is a two-way forward that tallied seven goals and 20 points over 49 games with the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs last season. He likely isn’t the type of player that can regularly pot 20+ goals and 50 points over a full 82-game slate anymore, but the former Columbus captain is a relentless forechecker with very strong defensive metrics.
Haula, 30, is a versatile forward that scored nine goals and 21 total points over 51 games with Nashville last season. The veteran peaked during the Vegas Golden Knights’ inaugural season in 2017-18 — scoring 29 goals and 55 points — but has seen his play level out as a more of a 20-30-point regular in a bottom-six spot.
Erik Haula, signed 2x$2.4 by BOS, is a bottom six centre. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/HxsUYFPevl
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 28, 2021
Nosek, 28, is likely penciled into Boston’s fourth line, which now has a vacancy down the middle with Sean Kuraly heading back home to Columbus. Nosek is a big body (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) with a bit of a higher offensive ceiling in a fourth-line spot with eight goals and 18 points over 38 games last season with Vegas.
Tomas Nosek, signed 2x$1.75M by BOS, is an offence-minded fourth liner who gets good scoring chances. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/labiULpxK2
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 28, 2021
Even though Nosek should offer more of a scoring pop on a B’s fourth line that failed to make much of a dent in the scoresheet last year, it will be interesting to see how Boston deploys Nosek if he’s indeed replacing Kuraly. While Boston’s checking unit under Bruce Cassidy has regularly been handed very daunting matchups and plenty of D-zone starts — Nosek was handed the opposite for most of his time in Vegas, ranking in the 16th percentile of NHL forwards in terms of quality of competition.
Nosek sure seems like a safe bet to be penciled in on the fourth line, but Haula might be in an interesting spot further up in the B’s lineup. Haula may not steal headlines as a third-line pickup like Coleman, but he has plenty of history skating with Charlie Coyle — with the pair playing together on the same line at times with Minnesota from 2013-17.
While Haula can play any position up front, one has to wonder if Boston might give him a look at center, with the veteran bringing value as a left-shot option at faceoffs who posted a team-best 55.1 faceoff percentage last season in Nashville. Moving Coyle to the wing could be an option, although the B’s forward has noted in the past that he prefers playing at the pivot spot.
Of course, Foligno is probably the most noteworthy add up front for Boston so far this summer — and even though there’s some risk in that the veteran forward’s game could drop off a cliff in short order, there’s a lot to like about what the established leader can bring in this win-now window, especially over the span of a two-year deal.
However, with all three of Foligno, Haula and Nosek reportedly heading to Boston, it sure seems like there’s another shoe that’s yet to drop when it comes to sorting out Boston’s bottom-six unit. Could Jake DeBrusk be on the move for either defensive help or reinforcements in net?
Stay tuned … because there seems to be plenty of factors still in play when it comes to getting a full picture of what this B’s roster is going to look like next year.